TWO AQUINAS FRIENDS REUNITE AND REMINISCE

Thirty-seven years after their days together at Aquinas, former students Maxim “Max” Furek and Jim Scholten re-united Labor Day weekend 2009 at the Wyoming County Fair near Meshoppen, Pennsylvania.

July 26, 2010 - Scholten performed in the fair as the bass player for renowned country-rock act Sawyer Brown; Furek, a psychologist, sociologist, and big fan of the band, presented Scholten with a copy of his newest book.

Furek graduated from Aquinas College in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and is now the director of Garden Walk Recovery in Mocanaqua, Pennsylvania, an organization that focuses on preventing drug use through education. He has done extensive research on the music culture of Gen-Xers and their relationship with violence and substance abuse. His most recent book, The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin, traces the demise of such celebrities as Kurt Cobain and River Phoenix and makes comparisons between the attitudes of Generation X and Generation Y (their younger counterparts) regarding such subjects as music and drug use.

Scholten and Sawyer Brown find themselves free of the drug addictions that have plagued other musicians. “We’re pretty boring when it comes right down to it,” he said with a laugh in an interview with the Rocket-Courier. Scholten attended Aquinas College from 1970-1972 and was majoring in sociology before moving to Nashville to focus full-time on a music career. After joining Sawyer Brown, he played a grueling nightly schedule until the group gained widespread acclaim and commercial success by winning the vocal group division in the nationally broadcast TV show “Star Search” in 1983. Scholten said that he is considering returning to college, but for now enjoys playing with the band.

For each friend, the reunion was a great opportunity to celebrate the other’s accomplishments and reflect back on their time spent attending Aquinas—jamming with musicians and having intellectual debates with psychology majors and other student members of the “roadhouse gang” that frequently met just off campus at a Robinson Road residence.

---NOTE: Quotes and information for this article are used with permission from “Author, Musician Reunite at Wyoming County Fair,” published in the Rocket-Courier newspaper of Wyalusing, Penn. on September 10, 2009.